Recruiting analysts have been lauding the job coach Brady Hoke has done acquiring talent since he was brought to Michigan in 2011 to clean up the mess left by Rich Rodriguez.

Hoke also was hailed two years ago for producing an 11-2 record, including a Sugar Bowl win, in his first season as Wolverines coach. After Rodriguez torpedoed the proud program with a three-year record of 15-22, Hoke had enough goodwill capital to skate through last season largely without blame although Michigan slipped to 8-5.

Hoke, however, knows better about that 2012 record.

“It’s unacceptable at Michigan,” he said last month at the Big Ten media days.

The No. 17 Wolverines are expected to bounce back — beginning today in a season opener at home against Central Michigan — and challenge for the Big Ten Legends Division title. Many are forecasting a Big Ten championship game between Michigan and Ohio State, which would be a historic rematch in Indianapolis one week after their Nov. 30 regular-season finale in Ann Arbor.

Three months of football will determine whether The Game II is in order. For now, Hoke is intent on pushing the Wolverines to daily improvement.

“We’re obviously playing with a lot of young guys who haven’t played a lot,” he said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Hoke has said repeatedly since the spring that he likes this team despite its inexperience. His players are familiar with a coaching staff that, other than one defection, is intact for a third season. They’re more physical, too.

“I want to see guys knocking people off the block and not doing it with good humor,” Hoke said.

Michigan’s high hopes also are tethered to quarterback Devin Gardner. The junior gained valuable experience starting last season’s final five games in place of injured Denard Robinson, now in the NFL.

There is also unified purpose in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines are out to avenge a 2012 season that was marred by losses to Ohio State, Alabama, Notre Dame and Nebraska and capped by a 33-28 loss to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.

Although the Wolverines finished second in their division to Nebraska, they nearly lost two other games. They beat Michigan State 12-10 on a last-second field goal, and their 38-31 overtime win over Northwestern came after they tied the score with two seconds left in regulation.

Both of those victories were at home and saved Michigan from a 6-7 record.

Still, a five-loss season gnaws at Hoke’s psyche.

“How we finished a year ago was very disappointing, with how we coached and how we played fundamentally,” he said. “We need to do a better job, starting with me as the head football coach.”

Historical perspective sheds light on Michigan’s 2012 record. Before Rodriguez’s three seasons, the Wolverines had lost five games in a season only twice from 1968 to 2007. So work still needs to be done at Michigan, which has won a record 42 Big Ten championships but none since 2004 — its longest drought since 1950-64.

“The expectation, when you’re at Michigan, is to win the Big Ten Conference championship,” Hoke said. “That’s never going to change.”

The Wolverines haven’t sniffed a national title since splitting the final No. 1 poll vote with Nebraska in 1997. A year later, the Bowl Championship Series came to life. Michigan since has lost at least two games in 15 consecutive seasons. And the Wolverines have wilted in The Game, too. They’re 2-10 in the past 12 years against Ohio State.

All those losses and unfulfilled title aspirations are why All-America left offensive tackle Taylor Lewan made a surprising decision after the 2012 season to forgo the NFL draft and return for his senior season.

“I was prepared last year to go to the NFL, but there’s unfinished business here, and that’s the kind of stuff I want to do,” Lewan said. “There’s nothing else to prove here except a Big Ten championship. All I know is failure here.”